Healthy New Year!
Healthy New Year! 2022, the beginning of another year. Many people commit to resolutions, goals or plans to change something or make improvements in their life. In other words, they want to get healthy. The top three new year’s resolutions are: change in diet, weight loss and exercise. These physical aspects of “healthy” are important but they only touch on a very small piece of what it means to be healthy. This post is going to be about healthy. What is it and what does it look like in a person, a relationship and life activities?
Healthy is an adjective that describes “ideal functioning” in people, relationships, or things. Ideal functioning is the way something is meant to operate at its best or fullest capacity. Healthy is well-being. In human development, we look at a person’s physical, mental and spiritual well-being to determine health. People are social creatures designed for relationships; therefore, healthy focuses on the interactions between people. Finally, the activities we engage in become lifestyle choices and determine our quality of life.
Since we live in a broken world with hurting people, things are rarely ideal. Throughout life, we experience pain from injury and illness. People struggle to connect and interact. Our time is often wasted pursuing harmful or useless endeavors. Perfection is fleeting. As humans we are either heading towards healthy or slipping away from it. It’s that midway point we want to try and hold on to.
Healthy is a constantly changing reality. Getting healthy is a battle.
Healthy is an intentional pursuit of will and self-discipline. It is an active process that demands consistency and balance. It is not for the faint of heart nor is it a short-term fix.
The best description of what healthy looks like begins with wholeness. Body, mind, spirit, relationships and lifestyle. People are not perfect and will never be perfect. A person makes a conscience decision to seek wholeness. It begins with lifestyle and is a daily mental/spiritual decision to seek God, respect his authority and trust in his purpose for your life. We can’t control what comes in life. We can only adjust, adapt, and age with grace.
Once our spiritual life is in order, we take care of our body by feeding it natural foods. We seek balance in fruit, vegetables, meat, breads, nuts and cheese. Reduce processed foods or foods with chemicals. Drink water. Don’t deny yourself your favorite treats. We rest and move our bodies as much as possible for the rest of our life. We go outside and get in nature. Its beauty speaks for itself. We wash our hands, clean ourselves and keep away from sickness. Only go to the doctor if you really need it.
We only think about and say positive things. We stay away from negative, fear induced information. We cope with our thoughts, feelings of sadness, anger, rejection. We balance our stress – not too much, not too little. We communicate our feelings and express ourselves. We are honest and speak truth.
We again seek God, pray, read and meditate on the bible, love and serve other people and have fun and enjoy creation. Be thankful and grateful for everything. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Listen to others and express yourself. Laugh, cry and share life with others. Give and receive gifts. Stop buying so many things. We don’t need all that stuff. Stop comparing and trying to be better than others. Get your mind off yourself. Respect others even if you don’t believe or agree with them. Appreciate and enjoy the diversity and uniqueness of others. Remember that we are all God’s children made in his image. Thank Jesus for saving you.
Work hard, play hard and us your time wisely. Enjoy your life.
Until next time – Healthy is worth the effort!! Just be………
